Babies recognise emotions in people’s faces
You may be well aware that your baby recognises your face, but a new study has revealed that the toddler can also recognise the distinctive way you smile or frown.
Researchers in Britain have found that babies as young as four months are able to recognise emotions in faces of people, in fact, they are able to pick up on ‘non-verbal’ signals adults use to communicate, before they start talking.
According to them, infants use the same brain regions that adults do when they look at the gaze of another, a base for social interaction that often appears critical for social development and might go wrong in conditions such as autism.
The researchers at the University of London came to the conclusion after analysing the brains of a group of babies by using infrared light to take an image.
In the study, four-month-old infants took part in two scenarios in which a face either established mutual gaze or averted its gaze, both of which were followed by an eyebrow raise and an accompanying smile.
The researchers studied the blood oxygenation of the infant brain, as measured by the infra red light and also by a net of electrical sensors in a method called EEG that picks up brain waves.
They found that a gaze activates parts of the cortex, the rind of the brain, where the equivalent job of monitoring gazes is done by adults.
Cause of male aggression
It’s often said that most women prefer the scrappy male over the nice guy. But have you ever wondered what makes some men more aggressive? Well, it is the fair sex, along with property.
A new study of the mathematics of warfare has revealed that the lust for women and the hunger to acquire property are the two primary reasons for the evolution of belligerence and bravery in men.
In fact, an international team has based its findings on an analysis of the evolutionary forces that shaped the need for males to be belligerent, which raises their probability of trying to conquer neighbours and of bravery, which increases the probability of succeeding in conquest.
The mathematical analysis of the evolution war by the team, led by Laurent Lehmann and Marc Feldman of Stanford University, focused on small-scale, pre-state societies, for instance hunter-gatherers societies.
Universe’s mysteries
As the world’s scientists try to unzip mysteries about the universe, Japan is set to open its largest atomic science park to study the world at its smallest level.
The Japan Proton Accelerator Research Complex (J-PARC Centre) — $1.36 billion project almost entirely funded by the government, will open in December as one of the world’s three hubs of atomic science.
The gigantic complex in the nuclear research hub in Tokai, 100 km northeast of Tokyo, is designed to help researchers study any object on earth beneath the level of the atom.
By better understanding the world in such minute detail, researchers hope to bring benefits to a variety of fields including pharmaceuticals, food processing and ion batteries.
Ayurvedic drugs not safe
A fifth of ayurvedic medicines sold online were found to contain lead, mercury or arsenic above permissible
levels, according to a recent study.
Ayurvedic preparations are used by many of India’s 1.1 billion population and worldwide by people from South Asia, as well as others, says the study.
“However, since 1978 more than 80 cases of lead poisoning associated with ayurvedic medicine use have been
reported worldwide,” wrote the authors.
“Several Indian-manufactured rasa shastra medicines could result in lead and/or mercury ingestions 100 to 10,000 times greater than acceptable limits,” they added.
Ayurvedic medicines are of two major types — herbal and rasa shastra, which is an ancient practice of combining herbs with metals like mercury, lead, iron, zinc, minerals like mica and gems, mainly pearl.
Rasa shastra experts say that these medicines, if properly prepared and administered, are safe and therapeutic.
Slowing down Parkinson’s
A drug developed by an Israeli firm has been seen to slow the progression of the Parkinson’s disease.
A phase III trial showed that patients treated with Azilect showed improvement as compared to those who started taking the drug at a later stage, the report said.
During the study involving 1,176 patients in the very early stage of the disease, the participants who were given an Azilect tablet once a day for 72 weeks experienced slowing in the progress of the disease as compared to those who received a placebo for the first 36 weeks before being treated with Azilect.
The drug has already been approved to treat symptoms of the neurodegenerative condition, but the drugmaker now wants regulators to expand the official labelling of its approved uses to include disease modification, added the report.
